Cristiano Giuseppe Lidarti and Giovanni Battista Tempesti

Cristiano Giuseppe Lidarti and Giovanni Battista Tempesti, painted in Rome in 1759, depicts two of Dance's Italian acquaintances during his Roman residence—Lidarti a Bohemian composer active in Rome and Tempesti a Pisan painter who worked in Rome. The double portrait of two artists in conversation captures the social world of European artists in Rome, where painters, musicians, and literati from across the continent formed the cosmopolitan community of practicing artists and scholars around whom British Grand Tour visitors moved. Dance's ability to paint both the British visitors and the international artist community in Rome documented the multilingual cultural world he inhabited during his formative Italian years.

The informal double portrait reveals Dance's ability to capture lively social interaction between sitters, the animated poses and warm palette creating a sense of collegial intimacy quite different from his formal English commissions.